Under-fire Abbott tweaks support for coal seam gas

Opposition Leader
Tony Abbott
yesterday insisted that he supported farmers’ desire to protect their land after earlier saying that coal seam gas extraction was not as “devastating" to the countryside as open-cut mining.

Mr Abbott, who had previously sided with farmers opposing expansion of the gas industry on their land, said on Wednesday that some farmers welcomed it and it was not as disruptive to the land as mining.

The comments triggered a backlash from independent rural MPs
Tony Windsor
and
Bob Katter
, who accused Mr Abbott of not understanding the gas extraction process.

Mr Abbott, while visiting Tamworth in northern NSW on Wednesday, said during an ABC interview that there was a big difference between coal seam gas extraction and open-cut mining. “Open-cut mining is a devastating thing. Coal seam gas extraction, by contrast, involves relatively little disturbance of the surface, a relatively modest area for the plant itself, some roads and fences," he said.

He said there were legitimate concerns about the impact on the water table but some farmers were happy for gas extraction to occur because it often led to road upgrades as part of the process.

Mr Windsor said Mr Abbott seemed to not understand that coal miners usually purchased the land, whereas gas companies simply put wells down on farmers’ land without recognition of the existing land use.

Mr Katter said Mr Abbott did not understand the hazards involved in drilling through aquifers.

“I strongly applaud him in other areas, but on this particular area I think he should butt out because he doesn’t know what he’s talking about," he said.

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Yesterday, Mr Abbott qualified his comments somewhat, saying he fully understood farmers’ desire to protect their land and supported this but he hoped that the two industries could co-exist, as they had for decades in Queensland. “I think it is very important that we get the balance right here," he said.

Mr Abbott’s comments on Wednesday were a departure from the position he took last August when he suggested in a radio interview with Alan Jones, who has campaigned for farmers resisting an expansion of the gas industry, that farmers should be able to block coal seam gas companies coming onto their land.

He commended the NSW Liberal government for taking a “cautious" approach.

Nationals senator John Williams, who accompanied Mr Abbott on his visit to Tamworth, said it was important to note that regulating coal seam gas extraction was primarily a state responsibility.

“We’ve got to tread with extreme caution. We can’t bugger it up for future generations," he said.